hessle audio

David Kennedy makes his triumphant return with HES026, drawing on his skill for spacious, innovative rhythms and sparse, starkly touching melodies for one of his most focused and effective records to date.

LWE’s 115th podcast, by famed DJ and co-founder of Hessle Audio Ben UFO, was an eclectic mix of old classics, current favorites, and unreleased cuts. Be sure to add it to your collection before it’s archived this Friday, February 8th.

We’re elated to present LWE’s 115th podcast mixed by Ben UFO, one of the undisputed tastemakers of the current UK scene. We also caught up with him to chat about his house conversion, dance music’s political edges, and Skrillex.

Dance Till The Police Come/Fundamentals is a departure from Peverelist’s past work, taking the nervous tics of “Better Ways Of Living” or “The Hum” and jetting off with them into full-on rave hysteria.

After years spent releasing forward-thinking and consistently genre-defying music, 2010 was the year where David Kennedy’s name never seemed to leave the lips of critics and consumers alike. LWE caught up with Kennedy to chat about the CD, vinyl in general, and exactly how much free time he has left.

If Elgato is keen for music itself to do most of the talking, LWE’s 70th exclusive podcast is a good start. Showcasing old U.S. and UK house and garage, his mix makes a compelling argument for their shared history.

Six full months into 2010, the record labels that have impressed me the most have one thing in common: from record to record, their releases are as varied as they are superb. Here are five record labels, in no particular order, that stood tallest in my memory and heaviest in my collection.

I’m not exactly sure how to peg James Blake. But if dubstep professes to be music made for dance floors, then the young British producer almost certainly isn’t making it. His proudly unquantized beats (throbs of crunchy sound more than proper drum-hits) skitter in and out of the mix like confused cockroaches; his melodies, while warm, soulful, and usually ripped from records made in far simpler musical times, float over the proceedings like a minute-old ganja cloud — still pungently present, yet barely there. Despite sounding more than a bit like Untold, who’s championed his productions as labelhead at Hemlock, refashioned as a sleazy lounge act, Blake brings a strangely anthemic quality to productions which otherwise would probably be too experimental (or just downright blazed) for club consumption. Indeed, his latest offering, The Bells Sketch for the seriously in-bloom Hessle Audio label, has already attracted the attention of adventurous jocks like Dub War residents Dave Q and Alex Incyde, who managed to move floors (while simultaneously weirding them out, in a good way) when they each closed out recent sets with the A-side. It’s Blake’s most sophisticated record to date, but that doesn’t mean his dance floor credentials make a whole lot more sense.